Tag to Baseball

Rather than tag other players with your hand, tag them by throwing darts (small, heavy, sharp, pointy things weighted for throwing) and having them stick in them.

You get three throws before the other person becomes "it". Then they have three throws at the next player in sequence.

Divide each player into scoring zones and score points according to what zone the darts land in.

The aim of the game is to accumulate a certain number of points, rather than avoid being tagged.

Mount a round board divided into scoring zones on a wall, and throw at that instead of at other players.

Have an opposing player stand in front of the board to try to block the darts from hitting it.

Rather than using several darts, use only one repeatedly. You get as many throws of the dart as you like, and from wherever you like, but if the player blocking the board gets a hold of it switch places.

Switching places like that all the time is tiresome. Just set up a second board behind you for your opponent to throw at instead.

Remove the different zones on the board. Hitting the board just gives you one point.

Add ten more players to each side! They're not the original players, though, so they can't touch the darts with their hands or arms. You and your opponent can only do so while blocking the board.

Since things are getting crowded, make the distance between the boards about a hundred metres.

Make the boards bigger: about eight yards long and eight feet high.

Put the boards flush with the floor instead of in the air, because it's hard for your teammates to get a dart up that high when they're not using their hands.

If the dart misses, or if it goes too far off to the side, give it to the other team.

Replace the dart with a ball.

Whenever a team has the ball, all players on the other team must leave the field except the one defending the goal.

Give the defender a wooden bat and have him prevent the ball from scoring using that instead of his body.

Make the field a 90-foot square, and put the goals in opposite corners of the field instead of along the sides.

Just throw and catch the ball with your hands; don't kick it.

If the attacking team scores three times, or if the defender hits the ball and it is caught by an opposing player before it lands on the ground, the defender is "out". Replace him with a different defender according to a specific ordering set up beforehand. The teams switch sides every time there are three "outs".

If the defender hits the ball and it is not caught, he has to try to run around the edge of the field. He can stop at any corner he likes; when he does, bring another defender to continue using the bat.

Any defender is "out" if the attackers touch him with the ball when he's not on a corner. But he can't stay on a corner forever; if after the ball is hit another defender is running towards his corner, he has to run to the next one!

Touching a running guy can be hard; let's just say that if an attacker is touching a corner while holding the ball, the defender running to that corner is out. But only if the defender can't try to run back to the previous corner.

Let's mix it up a bit and change around the team labels! The team with the bat are going to be the attackers; they score a point (a "run") if any of them manage to get all the way around the four corners of the field without getting out. The people with the ball are going to be the defenders (or "fielders") instead. They can't score any runs right now, but they still have to keep throwing the ball towards the goal.

Choose one defender who's really good at throwing, call him the "pitcher", and have that be his job.

Remember we said that if the attacking team scores three times, the person with the bat is out? Well, since that team is fielding now and can't score points by hitting the goal anymore, call the goal a "strike zone" and have them try to collect three "strikes" instead.

Since we're not using the other goal as long as its team is fielding, just remove it. They can use the same strike zone as the other team when they switch places.

Make the strike zone a lot smaller and have it hover in mid-air next to the guy with the bat. Put a plate on the floor below it so you can tell exactly where it is.

If the guy with the bat swings it and misses the ball, he gets a strike even if the ball didn't hit the strike zone.

Make the ball a lot smaller, and really hard. Give the batter a helmet so he doesn't get killed by it.

That's not enough safety. Let's have it so if the pitcher hits the batter with the ball, the batter gets to "walk" one corner for free.

Give all of the fielders gloves so they don't get hurt when trying to catch the ball.

Any time the pitcher misses the strike zone, call that a "ball". If a batter collects four "balls", he gets to "walk" one corner for free.

If the batter hits the ball beyond the boundaries of the field without it bouncing, he and any of his team-mates on the corners get to finish walking around the entire circle and score their points for free!

It's way too easy to do that, so let's make the field bigger - a lot bigger. But only in the 90° arc opposite the batter.

Now the corners are too far apart to run to! Put them back where they were before, but leave the field the same size.

They're not corners anymore, so call them "bases".

Only if the batter hits the ball into the 90° arc straight ahead does he get to walk around the bases for free; if he hits the ball anywhere else outside the field (into "foul territory"), that's a free strike for the fielders. This strike can't be the third one that gets him out, though.

Remove two players from each side.

The game ends when each team has had nine goes (or "innings") at being the attackers. Whoever has the most runs wins!